Chapter 425: Highest Command
By the time they reached the docks and hid the nutritional pod in a shipping container, Xiao Ye had also already returned home.
His body double left immediately. From start to finish, the surveillance footage only showed him sitting on his bed, meditating.
To be on the safe side, Xiao Ye had deliberately erased all traces of his aura to avoid being exposed.
The container was hoisted up and placed onto the freighter.
A knock came from outside the villa.
The moment the housekeeper opened the door, a group of people rushed in, heading straight for Xiao Ye's bedroom.
This time, they didn't bother with pleasantries, kicking the door open with a single blow.
Xiao Ye immediately looked over, his eyes filled with murderous intent. "Who let you in?! Daring to disturb my meditation—you're courting death!"
The leader of the group came before Xiao Ye and raised his gun. "We need you to cooperate with our inspection!"
"Who the hell do you think you are, telling me to cooperate?" Xiao Ye, of course, wouldn't agree immediately. That would be too suspicious.
'I have to play the part of the arrogant bastard to the very end!'
The man didn't speak, simply taking out a device and scanning it over Xiao Ye's body.
A green light flashed, indicating there was no trace of gunpowder residue on him.
"What in the world are you trying to do?"
"Mr. Xiao, please come with me right now!"
"Leave? And go where?"
The man never lowered his gun. "To a place where you will be questioned, of course. This is a direct order from the highest level of the Angel Association. You must comply!"
Xiao Ye frowned slightly, then reached out and grabbed the man's arm. "I can go with you. After all, the Angel Association did agree to my demands."
"But don't you dare point that gun at me again, or I guarantee you will regret it!"
The man winced in pain and had no choice but to obey, moving the muzzle of his gun away.
Only then did Xiao Ye stand up. "Let's go."
「United Group Conference Room.」
Several high-ranking members of the Angel Association were gathered here.
"Laboratory Seven has been completely destroyed! Who the hell did it!"
"Who else could it be? It has to be Xiao Ye! Lin Chuxing is gone, along with her nutritional pod. Who else could it be but him? Besides, ever since he showed up, the Angel Association hasn't had a moment of peace!"
"But the surveillance is clean. The team we just sent reported back that Xiao Ye has indeed been home the whole time, and he has no gunpowder residue on him."
"Then he had someone else do it! The most important thing right now is to find Lin Chuxing!"
BEEP.
The door slid open automatically.
Xiao Ye walked in.
He frowned slightly. "If you can't give me a satisfactory explanation, I'm not going to be polite!"
"You barge into my room and point a pistol at my head. Do you really think I'm some kind of pushover?"
"Enough, Xiao Ye! You destroyed Laboratory Seven, and you still have the nerve to talk to us like this!"
Xiao Ye feigned confusion. "Laboratory Seven?"
The group was taken aback. They had almost forgotten that Xiao Ye had never been to Laboratory Seven; he didn't even know where it was.
'That's right. If Xiao Ye really did it, how would he know the location of Laboratory Seven? How could he have broken in so easily? And how would he even know Lin Chuxing was inside?'
Lin Chuxing was a very important test subject, so her location had always been a closely guarded secret, never revealed to any outsiders.
But even with these doubts, they still suspected Xiao Ye. "Someone broke into Laboratory Seven today and rescued Lin Chuxing!"
Xiao Ye shot to his feet. "Rescued who?"
"Lin Chuxing!"
"Lin Chuxing... Didn't you say that no one knew where she was?" Xiao Ye took a few quick steps, strode up to the man who had spoken, and grabbed him by the collar, hauling him to his feet.
"Talk! What the hell is going on?!"
Xiao Ye's anger didn't seem fake.
"You have the nerve to ask us? You're obviously the one who rescued her!"
"Me? Rescue her?" Xiao Ye slammed his fist into the man's face. "Do you think I would rescue Lin Chuxing? If I wanted her, I would have asked you for her directly!"
"Besides, is Lin Chuxing really that important to you? She's not some inexhaustible resource. You've been using her as a test subject for so many years."
"How much longer can she even live? Can you even say for sure?"
Xiao Ye sneered. "I get it now. You must have found a replacement, but you don't want to give Lin Chuxing back to me, right? You need a fake Lin Chuxing to help me control the Xiao Family!"
"So you staged this whole thing just to make me believe she was really rescued!"
Xiao Ye had turned the accusation right back on them, and what's more, his argument was logical and well-reasoned.
Most importantly, they did, in fact, have a replacement.
After all, Lin Chuxing's condition was indeed poor, and for years, they had been searching for someone just like her.
As fate would have it, their persistent efforts paid off, and they had actually found one.
Just then, a phone suddenly vibrated.
Xiao Ye glanced at the number on the screen. Surrounded by the group, he had no choice but to answer. "What is it? Can't you see I'm busy?"
The person on the other end heard his tone and immediately said, "There's a problem with the Xiao Family Company."
"You handle it!" With that, Xiao Ye hung up and plopped down into a chair. "You people are going to give me an explanation for this!"
The expressions on everyone's faces turned ugly.
They were the ones who had brought Xiao Ye here for an explanation. How had it turned into them having to give *him* one?
"You... You're just spouting nonsense!"
As soon as the words were out, a voice came through the conference room's speakers. "Xiao Ye, you may leave. But you are not to leave Country A for the time being."
Xiao Ye stood up. "I'll be waiting for your answer!"
After leaving, he immediately pulled out his phone and called the number back. "What's wrong?"
The caller was one of the ten!
"There's a problem. We had already boarded the freighter and were about to set sail, but unexpectedly, the ship was searched. To avoid being exposed, we had to move, taking the nutritional pod with us."
"We're still at the docks now. We need someone to extract us and get us to the safe house!"
Xiao Ye took a deep breath. "I'll send people over immediately!"
General He activated a few of his people in N City to help, and they finally made it to the safe house smoothly.
「As night fell.」
Xiao Ye snuck to the safe house.
The moment he stepped inside, he smelled blood.
"Is someone injured?"
"Yes, we were injured during the transfer. Someone mistook us for thieves and attacked. To avoid causing a major scene, we had no choice but to take them out."
"But they had guns, which is how we got careless and were injured."
They were all true masters, but they were still flesh and blood; it was impossible to be completely invulnerable.
Not to mention, they also had to divert their attention to protect Lin Chuxing.
The nutritional pod had now been reconnected to a power source.
Lin Chuxing's eyes were red. "I'm sorry!"
In her entire life, this was the first time someone had been injured while rescuing her. She had never felt this kind of guilt before, and its first appearance washed over her like a tidal wave, threatening to drown her completely.
"It's all right," Xiao Ye said, walking over to comfort her. "Don't overthink it. Your emotions shouldn't fluctuate too much."
Xiao Ye took out a high-quality wound salve. "Use this on him. He'll be much better by tomorrow."
This was a topical medicine he had personally concocted. Its effectiveness went without saying!